Various services that utilize the Internet have become available recently. A user can enjoy such services as information provision by accessing servers that provide services on the Internet. However, services on the Internet are based upon communications processing. Basically, a communications channel must be set up between a service provider and a service recipient, so the service provision is limited quantitatively.
By contrast, broadcasting has the merit of being able to provide information simultaneously to an unspecified multitude of recipients within the range of the broadcast signal. The present invention provides technology that is suitable for allowing many recipients to effectively utilize Internet content information, by multiplexing the Internet content information or related information in the television broadcast.
Furthermore, teletext broadcasting technology is related to the present invention. The teletext broadcasting technology broadcasts characters in addition to the normal broadcast, by inserting the character information in the vertical blanking interval of the television broadcast.